Europe

China has pledged to take all necessary measures to stimulate its economy and fuel consumer spending, but has rejected as “ridiculous” suggestions that its huge pool of domestic savings has been partly to blame for the global financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. In a rare interview, Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, said in London on Sunday that Beijing was considering fresh measures to boost its economy beyond its Rmb4,000 billion ($585 billion, €458 billion, £404 billion) fiscal package launched late last year.

The European Central Bank is drawing up guidelines for European governments that are considering "bad banks" to house lenders' toxic assets, while Germany is moving closer to agreeing to legislation that would help its banks set up individual bad banks, The Wall Street Journal reported. The parties in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition have expressed support in recent days for a plan under which Germany's banks would move bad assets off their books.

A creditor of Spain's Nozar has asked a judge to put the privately held property company into administration, court documents showed on Tuesday, a move that would lead to Spain's second biggest corporate default, Reuters reported. Last year creditor Avalatransa twice asked the courts to put Nozar into administration over unpaid debts, which in total exceed 4 billion euros, but both attempts were unsuccessful. Nozar, owned by the Nozaleda family, has five days to respond to Avalatransa's filing.

Wholesaler H. E. Richards has been placed into receivership, iomtoday.com reported. KPMG has been appointed as the receiver. H.E. Richards of Hills Meadow Industrial Estate, Douglas, employs a total of 28 staff, full and part time. KPMG is following up expressions of interest in the firm. KPMG's Mike Fayle said staff were sent home, but had not been formally laid off.

Hundreds of thousands of French workers staged a nationwide strike on Thursday to try to force President Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to do more to protect jobs and wages during the economic crisis, Reuters reported. The strike, in a country with a strong protest culture, aimed to highlight fears over growing unemployment, discontent over Sarkozy's reluctance to help consumers and resentment toward bankers blamed for the economic slump.

According to a press release on its corporate site, Atlas Shipping A/S filed a petition for bankruptcy with the Bankruptcy Division of the Maritime and Commercial Court in Copenhagen. Simultaneously with the bankruptcy order in respect of Atlas Shipping A/S, bankruptcy orders were issued in respect of Atlas Bulk Shipping A/S and Atlas Shipping Holding A/S. The Atlas Shipping Group has been operating as an international contractor of tonnage and provider of transport solutions in the dry bulk sector with tonnages ranging from 25,000 to 80,000 DWT.

Germany's Finance Ministry is weighing the nationalization of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, the Munich bank whose troubles prompted Germany to bail out its entire banking sector last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. No decision has been made, according to a senior German official. But Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück is considering ways to take control of Hypo as a prelude to radically scaling down its operations, this person said. The government could even confiscate shareholders' stakes in the bank, under one option being considered.

After seeing seven London partners jump ship earlier this month, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP is reportedly considering legal action against the group for alleged violations of their partnership agreements, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. On Tuesday, London's Legal Week reported that Cadwalader had sent letters before action to the seven, accusing them of breaching the confidential terms of their partnership deed by moving to Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP.

Iceland’s government collapsed on Monday following political turmoil prompted by the global financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. The demise of the two-party coalition forced Geir Haarde, prime minister, to resign with immediate effect, having said on Friday that he would step down in May because he is suffering from cancer. “This is not good. We have a currency crisis, a banking crisis and now a political crisis,” said Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, professor at the University of Iceland.

The owner of the Barratts and PriceLess shoe chains in Britain filed for a form of bankruptcy for the two businesses Monday in an attempt to save itself from collapse, the Associated Press reported. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, Stylo PLC--the Bradford, England-based parent company--said it had appointed administrators from Deloitte for its shoe chains as it attempted to come to an agreement with creditors to secure its long-term survival.